John Sutherland

Who was John Sutherland?

John Sutherland was a Canadian poet, literary critic, and magazine editor based in Montreal, Quebec. Although he published numerous poems of his own, he was perhaps better known as the founder and editor of two important Canadian literary magazines, First Statement and Northern Review.

Before his death from cancer, Sutherland also published the anthology Other Canadians: An Anthology of New Poetry in Canada, 1940–46, a collection of Canadian modernist poetry, and one of the first critical studies of the poetry of E.J. Pratt. Sutherland was also instrumental in exposing the poetry of Irving Layton to a wider audience, thanks to the Sutherland-owned First Statement Press, the small press that issued Layton's first book, Here and Now.

In 1943, Sutherland published a review of Patrick Anderson's poetry in First Statement which suggested homoerotic themes in his writing, and accusing Anderson of "some sexual experience of a kind not normal"; although Anderson would in fact come out as gay later in life, he was married at the time to Peggy Doernbach, and threatened to sue. Sutherland printed a retraction in the following issue.